Looks very nice to me Paulo but it looks like a lot of other boats. I'm pretty sure I could be very happy with it. ...

Yes that is the problem. For giving the kind of money that boat costs, you need to have the money and to be in love with the boat. That is a nice boat but nothing exciting or something I could find perfect.

Now look at a direct competitor yet on the building phase, the IY 15.98:

The Waukiez is a 57ft the IY a 55ft the dimensions are very similar (except in lenght) with the Wauquiez displacing 18 000kg and the IY 15 800kg. Bigget difference is in sail area with the IY carrying upwind 180 sqm (with main and jib) and the Wauquiez only 143 sqm but with main and Genoa. Since I am sure both boats are well designed and the beam very similar that can only mean that the IY is a more stiff boat. They don't give the ballast but probably the IY has a slightly bigger B/D ratio but important part of the superior Rm will come from the difference in draft: 2.90m to 2.50m.

To be honest I would prefer 2.50m for cruising convenience but that would mean only probably less than a ton more on that bulb. Even so I believe the boat would be faster than the wauquiez, not that the wauquiez would not be fast enough

The really important part is the the IY makes me dream, that one looks like perfection to me even if I would be happy with one of their smaller boats.

The sailboat design is from Mario Cossuti and the interior from Emanuele Pillon but the boat concept is from the owners of the shipyard, Franco Corazza and Marco Schiavuta, that shared their vision with the designers.

To complete the magic the shipyard is in Venezia, once known to be the major naval power on the med and builder of magnificent boats. This one is worthy of the old tradition.

And after the race for the 1st between two racing boats, the third place is disputed between three big luxurious performance cruisers, all with a great cruising interior but able to go very fast.

The theoretically faster boat, the Catamaran Gunboat 62 seems to be losing for the Nauta 78 and the Southern Wind 72, the one that had chosen the more Northern, route is coming down much faster. It will be interesting to see if it can beat the Nauta.

Let's have a quick look at these boats ad first let's talk about the Cat.

Gunboat 62:

The Gunboat 62 was built between 2000 and 2005 mad five boats were built, the one racingwa originally the RANA then the LICKITY SPLIT and now ZENYATTA, yes three owners alrteady

Curiously the founder of Gunboats was a Jboat man, Peter Johnstone ,here the story:

Peter was born into the J Boats (J22, J24, J80, J109, etc) family. Sailboat racing came naturally to him. Sailing accolades include All-American status in Collegiate sailing, and victories in 15 Continental Sailing Championships. While racing consumed Peter's earlier years and instilled a lifelong pursuit for speed, his real passion has been bluewater cruising.

With over 100,000 ocean miles on his own boats, and record attempts as helmsman aboard record-setting mega-cats Playstation and Team Adventure, Peter formed strong views about what a performance cruising boat should be.

Tired of leaning over for days on his 70' keelboat, rolling for weeks at anchor, and with no visibility or real comfort, Gunboat founder Peter Johnstone knew a better cruising solution could be found.

"I wanted to sail level without putting everything away everytime we went sailing. I wanted large enough spaces for true privacy and relaxation. I wanted to be able to walk around without bumping into everyone and everything. Offshore, I wanted the ultimate safety, and to reliably achieve 300+ mile days. Most of all, I wanted those around me to enjoy the sailing."

A catamaran was the logical direction, yet nothing on the market satisfied Peter's vision. He'd been in a similar situation twice before. Both times required a paradigm shifting innovation.

Recognizing the need for yet another paradigm shift, Peter set out to develop his own 62' catamaran. Simply put, the 62' would apply proven durable race boat technology towards the ultimate cruising boat. TRIBE launched in 2001. She exceeded performance expectations, handled like a sportscar, sailed upwind at 15 knots, and downwind above 30. In cruising mode, she achieved nearly 400 miles on a good day, and reliably 300 miles. With a year and half spent aboard cruising with his children, Peter returned home with refinements for further Gunboats.

Shortly after the build of Tribe, word spread and customers sought out Peter to produce more Gunboats. A personal vision became a thriving business. Now, Gunboat manufactures very refined series at 55, 60 and 78.

Funny that they did not mention it but the Gunboats, even if under Peter Johnstone requeirements were and are in fact designed by the america Nas Morrelli & Melvin, specialized in multihulls:

In 2001 Morrelli & Melvin designed a pair of 62' performance-oriented catamarans for clients Clint Clemens and Peter Johnstone. These two Morrelli & Melvin 62's were built by Harvey Yachts in Cape Town , South Africa .

These boats turned out so well that eventually Peter Johnstone formed a company called GUNBOAT to produce these designs. Two more 62's were built by Jaz Marine in Cape Town .

The next several clients desired more interior volume and amenities so the original Morrelli & Melvin 62' design was lengthened to 66' and branded the GUNBOAT 66. Morrelli & Melvin refined the structures, rigs, and layouts in order to optimize this design.

Morrelli & Melvin also designed a 48' high performance cruising catamaran for GUNBOAT. These 48's have proven to be a very popular and capable design, nearly equaling the stellar performance of the 62's.

In 2007, Morrelli & Melvin embarked on a 90' design for a repeat Morrelli & Melvin 62 owner. This design was constructed at the GUNBOAT yard in Cape Town and was launched in April 2010. Sea trials were completed in the US at the end of 2010.

The Nauta 78 is going to win that race for the third but that's not a big deal. I thought it was this performance cruiser (Nauta 78), designed by Reichel & Pugh:

But no, it is also Nauta 78 but this one is a racing boat, even if not a recent one (2001) also designed by Reichel & Pugh. No wonder the boat being able to outsail the Gunboat 62 that is a performance cruiser, not a race boat.

The Marten 49 is a great design by Riechel & Pugh, built by Marten - Azzura marine, a sad story because they bankrupted in 2009. Its commercially hard to make boats in NZ away from the main markets even if one does great boats and the Marten 49 is one of the best.

Since the mid-1980’s New Zealand’s Marten Yachts has been at the forefront of groundbreaking innovations in racing yacht construction. They have been involved with the build of many high profile boats including Kingfisher, Mari Cha III and New Zealand America’s Cup challenge boats, pioneering the advance of super strength materials and techniques including autoclaved pre-pregnated high modulus carbon materials.

...Since 2000 the company has moved their focus to the production of the ultimate performance cruising boat, launching a range of Reichel-Pugh designed cruiser racers, the first of these being the Marten 49. ...

In 2005 Marten Yachts became part of the rapidly growing Australian based company Azzura Marine which has an impressive marine portfolio,
....

‘The Marten Yachts product range is very exciting. We are offering something more than the traditional cruiser racer; these are yachts that provide engineered exhilaration.

‘Steve Marten recognised that Porsche and Ferrari and a lot of road cars are derived from race cars and a lot of that technology, and he wanted to replicate that in the Marten Yacht design.

‘People love to drive around in a classy piece of equipment and that is what the Marten is. It’s a fast performance cruising yacht and is a very nice cultured product.

‘Steve’s vision combines the best parts of an engineered race boat with some very contemporary cruising features; user friendly features like a lift keel, a useable carbon fibre anchor assembly and high quality materials are found throughout the boat.

‘It is an all carbon boat and we are using SP’s latest technology - the Sprint method from SP or Infusion, as some know it. We as a group, have been learning from Steve and he is enjoying seeing his vision coming to fruition.'

By combining the talents of designers Reichel/Pugh and the skills of design engineers at SP Technologies with the experience of Marten Yachts and Azzura Marine, a range of luxury yachts has been created possessing outstanding pedigree - race-bred performance qualities with a spacious, functional layout.

The yachts are clearly intended for the owner who wishes to combine the excitement of a performance racing yacht with the ability to make fast comfortable passages, whilst short-handed or cruising.

Cruising yachts are mostly of traditional design and manufacture. Marten Yachts take a completely new approach, with detailed design, America’s cup type construction methods and use of materials that combine to provide superb performance and unrivalled functionality.

Details such as full carbon fibre construction and a lift keel for improved draft and performance when racing and reduced draft for accessibility to harbours and anchorages when cruising, combined with modern clean deck layouts with pop-up cleats and flush carbon hatches, help to compliment the overall design and performance standards.

The Marten 49, is a 2006 design that was years ahead of its time and today still looks like a brand new boat, a very nice one. Its performance is as astonishing as ever, considering that this is a boat with a great cruising interior and a lifting keel that allows it to cruise almost everywhere.

The boat weight, 9,500kg, is impressively low and even more impressive if we consider that almost half of it (4600kg) is ballast, almost all in a bulb at 3.6m when down and 2.1m when up. This and the fact that the boat is not narrow (4.17m) make this a boat incredibly stiff and Powerful, able to be sailed short handed or raced with a full crew.

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